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Topic: D-30S dating help (Read 1415 times)

I have a D-30S I have been unable to date. My understanding is the first number or two denotes year. I believe the D-30s was produced from 1991-1994. However, my serial number is SI 50102220. It's a great guitar, and I'd like to know more about it.

First of all, while modern Washburn serial numbers generally indicate date with the first two digits, there have been more than a few oddities. I have a BT-3 that begins I81, but as the model was made 1997-1999, it's likely 1998. Somewhere around here, a serial number is presented that is impossible to match up with the known build years.

I didn't know that Samick Indonesia (the "SI" prefix) goes back so far. Now that I look, the Cileungsi plant opened in 1992. Live & learn.

Blue Book says the second-version D30S was 1985-1994, but '85 was pre-SI.

Those triangle inlays are distinctive. The Book says the 30S had dots. The only Wash with "arrowhead" markers that I can find was the D-36S (2002-2003); the bridgeplate & headstock seem appropriate. The 36 had an ebony fretboard, & would also have a "Buzz Feiten Tuning System" decal on the back of the head (not the 30S).

Hi Jon,nice one!yours is not the second version D-30 but the third, produced from mid-90s on if I remember well.remarkable I find those trianguar markers that I have only seen before on the much earlier Prairie Song & Timber Ridge Customs.

For anyone interested, here is the answer to this puzzle graciously provided by Jim Smith:

"This is a D-36 S that has the wrong model number stamped on the sticker. (This happens once in a while) In an earlier post, on the Washburn forum, I explained that sound hole stickers are applied to Washburn acoustics when the instrument is sold to a dealer for retail sale. The serial number stamped on the sound hole sticker does not necessarily indicate the year of manufacture. If the guitar is built in 2004....but is not sold to a retailer until 2005....it will have a serial number starting with 5 (the year it shipped to the retailer).So your D-36-S was mismarked as a D-30 and was likely built in 2004 but not sold to a retailer until 2005...thus a serial number that starts with SI5xxxxx.Your model was built by Samick...Indonesia and was manufactured from 2002 to 2004."RegardsJim Smith Sr.

O heavens, thank you so much, MBC_Jon!!! And please pass along my thanks to the estimable Mr Smith, upon whose wisdom I often rely, not least for steering the Wikipedia article.

Many people seem to believe that Washburn serial numbers are like those of the electrics from Gibson (stamped on at manufacture) or Fender (decal under clearcoat at manufacture). As Mr Smith has previously said, many Washie models do not last beyond their initial order of 200 units; if sales are slow, a given guitar might be stamped a year or even two past its actual date of manufacture.

Then there's the model number. I work in a plant that makes transit buses. It's not rare that (say) a critical engine part winds up languishing amongst various brake-assembly components because a number was poorly printed & the stock people diligently went with what it looked like.

So, my suspicion was that your D36 might have had a messed-up "0" in there, whether when printed or mis-read by whoever printed the label.

In any case, a truly lovely guitar, & I hope it sounds at least as good. I'm a fan of ebony fretboards, but own only one, a bass -- make sure it gets some lemon oil. (Ebony has a bad habit of splitting.)